THE STORY OF NORMA JEAN

        My earliest recollections are living on the Sandham Farm in Lake Preston, South Dakota. I must have been about four. We had a dog. (She's the only dog I ever had! Usually many cats, though Mother was not a cat lover!). Aunt Bentina (mom's sister) and Uncle Johnny would bring us milk and I suppose other dairy things from their big farm. Playing with the dog "Shep" is all I remember here. And then we moved to St. Paul Park, Minnesota and lived downstairs of dad's mother's house. She lived upstairs and dad worked in Morris’s Grocery Store. I really loved my Grandma Sarah, (Sarah Howard McNaughton) and there are many memories connected with her. Wearing her high heels to play house in as she only wore a size 4, she was very small. Her cookie jar always had lots of different cookies in it too! Grandma Sarah used a curling iron on different occasions and curled my hair like Shirley Temple. The Laramy house next door was sold (Great-grandmother Mary Laramy Howard) and people named Glass moved in. They were to be long-time friends. Betty and Elaine Glass were my favorites, and in later years we were in high school together. Across the street was "Kise" Harbreckt and he made stilts and we all tried to walk on them. I don't think I was too successful at it. My mother missed her family in South Dakota alot, so she wasn't really happy in Grandma's house. At New Year's there was always a big family get together called the New Year's gathering. There was lots of food and mainly the plum pudding with a real good sauce which I've never tasted since! My cousins and I would have lots of fun playing. There was Kathryn Howard, Isabel Watson, Betty Lou Howard. We would jump rope and play hopscotch. Roller skating on the sidewalk was lots of fun in the summer.

        We had a few chickens in St. Paul Park and there was a black hen who turned out to be "saved." He was my pet and dad didn't kill him. "Blackie" was mine and I don't remember his end! In later years we moved to Newport and there were no sidewalks. My early years in St. Paul Park grade school were rather uneventful. I was in a play "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" and had to come out of the pumpkin, and mother had to get white long stockings for this big event! I believe that was first grade. The Community Church was on the corner (it's gone now) and we attended there. My cousin Kathryn Howard, lived upon Pullman Avenue in a big house. Her dad, Uncle Ray, worked in a gas station there in St. Paul Park. We used to roller skate down the Pullman hill when I was about nine or ten. Aunt Johnnie and Uncle Russell McNaughton lived in St. Paul and they came down every Sunday. There was another couple, Aunt Myrtle and Uncle Frank, (not actually relatives, but good friends of Russell and Johnny) and they all went together and bought me a "Margie" doll when I was about five or six. I'd said I wanted a doll as big as Uncle Frank. (Mother had this doll until they moved here in the 60s and guess it was given away then in the excitement of their move to California.) In later years I was to find I was sort of a cantankerous kid, but I was the apple of my Uncle Russell's eye, until they finally had Russell James. When I was about 10, I still continued to be their favorite, of course there were no other nieces or nephews as dad's brother, Kenneth and his wife, Marie, had no children. They lived in many different apartments in St. Paul. We visited them often. Kenneth was rather sickly. Dad's brother, Leroy, had been in St. Peter hospital and also lived with people in their vicinity. He had never married. I don't remember much of Leroy as he had been "sick" and in the red brick building which dad would visit and mom and I would wait in the car. Later he was to live with some people on a farm, and dad and Russell helped pay for his lodgings there. Outside of visiting relatives, we would go to the Barnum and Bailey Circus, my folks and I, and they would take one of my friends along. One time we took Rosemary Pike. She came from a large family and lived out in the country.

        When I was about 11 we moved to Newport, Minnesota, where dad and mother were to build a house on two acres. It was a simple house and everything was cash as dad didn't believe in debts. By now my grandma had moved in with Aunt Johnnie and Russell as they had a big beautiful house in St. Paul, which in my teen years would be my favorite place to go as being in the city was a real treat for a country girl. Johnnie and Russ loved to have visitors. Also they had a bathtub! My folks were not to get hot water and plumbing til I was married! They could've afforded it but because dad had been sick a lot when I was real small, mother had become a real worrier on money. By the time the house was being built dad was working at Cudahy Packing in the hide cellar. At that time there were black people with knives and whenever dad was late coming home, mother would worry he'd been hurt. I guess in later years he got out of the cellar part and to a better area. By now the folks got started in a little church in St. Paul Park and mom was to be their organist for ten years. She and dad helped start the church too, along with Soren and Marie Amendson. Their son, Oscar, and I were good friends and only children, so our families got together on holidays. They lived in St. Paul Park and we were to remain friends for many years, until in my junior year Oscar went into the Navy and went to California and married a doctor's daughter! By then I had met Tom, so all was well and the Navy was doing O.K. Anyway back to my early years in Newport elementary. I developed new friends. Clara, next door, and Molly, two doors away. I had the usual cats, and Doris Dobie across the street and her brother, Dick. They had a crow named "Jo Bird," who flew to our house. Dad was happy now as he had room for his garden and apple trees and raspberries. Doris and I would play house in the bushes by the apple trees. We also cut paper dolls and designed paper doll clothes. We were very talented!

        When I was in fifth grade, dad got me a bike and I sure was happy. We used to go to Laveme, Minnesota and see Sylvia and Lou Shelby and their four kids. They all had bikes and sidewalks. Going there was fun too as they had a movie theater in Laveme. On other occasions we would go to Lake Preston and stay with Bentina and Johnnie Nelson and play on the farm there I really enjoyed, except when it was time to chop off the lambs tails. In later years it was to be done electrically, I believe. Also playing in the hayloft was really fun. We would hang by the rope and land in the hay. Visiting my cousins was really fun except for the drive out there. Typical kid, sitting in the back seat and waiting to get there wasn't much fun. But they seemed to live such exciting lives because they all had more in the family, except for Cousin Marlys Nelson who also was an only child. She and I usually got in a lot of mischief we were told later on. In Lake Preston, the swimming pool in the summer was lots of fun, but I didn't learn to swim til my early teens from Clara next door, when she and I rode our bikes to South St. Paul Pool. I had fallen off some barrels in the Lake Preston pool and gotten rather frightened. I used to go swimming then with Aunt Bentina and Uncle Johnny's children.

        In 1941 my grandpa Torsten passed away and we drove back for the funeral and upon returning we hit a big snow storm. The car was stuck in snow and fortunately a farmer came to our rescue or we'd have probably frozen to death. The snow was real deep. He took us back to his farm, and I can remember having my feet in warm water to warm them up. They used a tractor to bring the car out of the snow.

        Somewhere in my pre-teen years mom had me take piano lessons at home on the old piano. Maybe I would've remembered the teachers name but because mother and grandma Sarah both played the piano so good, and mom especially playing by ear, that somehow mine never sounded very good. I went through the usual recitals but I guess the lessons were stopped and in high school I was in Glee Club and, of course, the G.A.A. team (girls athletic association). I had the lead in the class play "Strike Three," and my folks were real proud of me. In the seventh grade, I took care of a neighbor lady after school and her two kids. Her name was Millie Harbrecht. She had cancer. They lived behind us (kittycorner). The children were Sunny and Susie. I would cook for them on their wood stove, and Millie would drink carrot juice in the hope she would get better. She was in bed most of the time and her husband wasn't home much. One day I came home from school and mom said she had died (Millie). I was real sad. We knew her folks too. Millie was only about 29. Her husband. Ray, married again quite soon, which was talk of this very small town.

        We had a car with a rumble seat. When I was about eight, it was fun riding in it. Then dad got a newer car, and sometimes he would try and teach mom to drive, but she got too nervous so she never learned how. Buses took us to St. Paul, and when mother worked at the Model Laundry she took a bus. That was in my freshman and sophomore year. This is when I got to do some cooking and would make dad pork chops. When I was in the eighth grade there was a party at school, and I found a red dress in St. Paul (Lemers, I believe) and I wanted it real bad. Dad gave me the $10 for it. I had the dress a long time and really loved it. My room upstairs was like an attic-type, but it was cute and I enjoyed decorating it. There was a floor register and I could look downstairs on my folks in the living room.

        Most every summer we would go to South Dakota and stop at Luveme, Minnesota on the way and see my cousins Marilyn, Verna, Warren, and Neil and then to South Dakota. Mother enjoyed seeing her family. The only thing I can remember of Grandpa Torsten was his eating peas on the knife! Mother’s brother, Uncle John’s yearly visits were well enjoyed too by us. He had never married. The story goes as he was in love with a Catholic girl in his younger days and she wouldn't change to Lutheran for him!

        I believe my first job was picking strawberries at Swanlands for five cents a quart! Clara and I would go together and we'd take a lunch too and ride our bikes. At night there were free movies in Newport, and everyone took a blanket and sat and watched the show. In eighth grade, our class played baseball with Inver Grove. I wasn't too good at baseball but I met some boys who later came to visit me, and mom wasn't too happy about that, but she would play some songs on the piano and the boys and Bernice Thill and I would dance in the living room. Bernice and I were the only ones to be confirmed together as it was such a small church in St. Paul Park. One of our first pastors at St. Paul Park Lutheran was Pastor Qualin, and his son was John Qualin, the movie star. He was very proud of him. Anyway, we went to church every Sunday, and mom taught Sunday School too. Dad helped with the money at church and they were very instrumental in the forming of St. Paul Park Lutheran Church. It would be the same church I would be married in too! More of that later.

        When I was in the eighth grade, we got our first telephone! It was great. I could talk to Molly and Clare and they only lived next door.

        In the winter Molly and I would go skiing in the hills on Newport. There were lots of ravines. Also there was the ice skating rink in town and it was always full of kids skating and it had a small building with a wood stove for us to keep warm by and dry our mittens. It was also a good place to meet the neighbor boys! Of course dating was out of the question until I was 15, mother said. While I was in the eighth grade, Pearl Harbor was attacked, and one of mom's good friends in South Dakota, their son was killed. His name was Rich. My high school years saw many local boys join the service—several never to come back.

        I took the usual classes in my freshman year and became friends with Alice Barlow and Dorothy Williams. Lunch time at school was fun going to Koukols in St. Paul Park for ice cream. Singing in the Glee Club and Home ec were my favorites. Sometimes on the weekends I would stay at Aunt Johnnies and Uncle Russells. There I would meet the various "city" kids, and when I was about 15, four of us went on the Mississippi Belle (a river boat). Mother made me a dress for it. It was great fun staying in St. Paul with them. Johnnie and Russell had a Victrola and some records which I played over and over!

        In my sophomore year, I got a part-time job at Bridgeman's Ice Cream place in St. Paul We all ate a lot of ice cream too. Alice and I would take a bus to St. Paul and go to the movies. It was somewhere at this time that mom's sister, Esther and baby, Sonia, came to stay with my folks while Uncle Otto was in Germany. Later they were to join him there and by then my folks were really attached to Sonia! After the war ended in 1945, Otto was an interpreter for the Nuremberg trials. He's an attorney now in Virginia. My social life at age 15-16 was going to the free shows in Newport and various school dances. Also taking the bus to St. Paul and seeing a show, usually with Alice. Sometimes we would meet a soldier or sailor in St. Paul, and go to the show, but they always put us on the bus to come home! Alice seemed to always "get" the handsome fellows and mine weren 't too great. We usually would write them letters though and V-mail letters were used to send the servicemen then too.

When I was a junior in high school, I got a job at the Purity Bakery in St. Paul on the weekends. Dad would take me to the street car line in Inver Grove as buses didn't run real early out of Newport. I made good money at the bakery and when school started I bought quite a few skirts and sweaters and had a real nice wardrobe. It was at the bakery I met Gladys Gordon, a Jewish girl, very smart, went to Central High School, and was going to be a nurse. She and I hit it off real good and became good friends. She taught me how to shop for clothes. I would go to her house for dinner. Their Jewish customs really fascinated me and their food was real good too. We would eat lots of chow mein at local restaurants. I had never known any Jewish people before and she enjoyed coming to my house too, and even ate pork chops for the first time with me! I don't remember what she did at the bakery but I would scoop marshmallow out of big tubs and cover the cupcakes and throw them in coconut to go on the belt. It was real hot in the bakery and some of the people took salt pills to stay cool. There was a big red Coke machine and we drank lots of Coke to stay cool It rather ruined my taste for Coke too! After work, though, Gladys and I would walk downtown and shop in St. Paul.

I guess you might say I was one of the original bobby sockers! When Frank Sinatra started singing I was about 15 or 16 and we listened to his music and saw his movies, Alice and I were to remain Frank Sinatra fans all our lives! Our friend, Dorothy, thought Bing Crosby was the greatest and we even had debates on the two singers in English class. Course we debated the Navy versus the Army too. Alice and I always liked the Navy. It was one of our rides home on the street car that I was to meet the man who would be my first husband.

Tom Holme was in the Navy and stationed at Fleming Field and when I got on the street car he got up and gave me his seat. Through the years he has added his version to this tale, but this is my story. He can write his own, ha! Anyway, he ended up sitting by me and by the time we got to the end of the line, where my dad was waiting in the car, Tom had my phone number and address. He went to the base and I didn't figure I'd see him again. Well course the next day after school I was making myself a big sandwich and there was a knock on the front door and all I saw was a sailor hat through the little window on the door! Well, I guess the rest is history as they say in 1987! Anyway as the story goes, he was to come over the next evening for dinner, but mom very emphatically said I could not go out with any strange sailors!! Dad didn't say much, he usually let mother do the talking. Well, Tom came for dinner and mother's beet pickles made history! It was the turning point of this part of my life, as Tom told mother they were the best pickles he'd ever tasted. She fell for it hook, line, and sinker and I was allowed to get on the bus and go to the show in St. Paul with Tom!! This would become a weekend habit and dad would take Tom back to Inver Grove to the base. This was my junior year in high school, so we went to the prom together too and he gave me roses and I wore a beautiful yellow dress with daisies on the skirt, which took lots of shopping for. Prom night went with Harry Hajek, and Tom and I and we all went to a carnival and the usually staying up all night prom things, and even horseback riding the next day. Harry drove so we went with he and Alice. On other occasions the four of us would go roller skating in St. Paul at the Coliseum and we saw lots of shows in St. Paul's one and only movie theater! It was somewhere in my senior year in high school that we became engaged and also that Tom got transferred to Banana River, Florida which in later years would be Cape Canaveral and much later, Cape Kennedy.

        In March of 1945 I had an appendix attack and was quite sick, but the worst part after surgery was I missed the school hayride.

        Many events took place in my senior year, 1945. The war with Germany ended and also the war with Japan. My high school years as you see were "war years." Also on the radio we were to hear that President Roosevelt had died, and I remember Clarabelle and me crying. My only contribution to the war effort had been to knit afghan squares in the Red Cross Class at school. This was before Tom's transfer, of course, and he would wait for me at school, and we would walk home to Newport with some of the others. There were not that many students with cars in those days, but the two mile walk we would get used to if we missed the bus! Anyway my afghan squares sometimes missed a stitch and Tom at one time said it was a wonder we won the war with those squares! His sense of humor was what attracted both myself and my folks to him. When he went to Florida I saved my money from the bakery job and during Christmas vacation mother and I went to Florida and she and I stayed in the Hotel at Coco Beach near the base. We took the bus down there and it was a long trip on a bus, but love prevailed and the weather was nice and warm and it was great to leave the snow in Minnesota. I did feel bad as dad didn't get to go on the trip, but guess he had to stay home and work and take care of the house. Swimming in the ocean was a real treat. I knew mother enjoyed the trip as she talked of it a lot the years to follow. On the trip home Tom bought me a stuffed, huge dog which I called Buttons. Upon returning to school I had a great tan and by now I was settling down and getter better grades. When it came to prom time, my senior year, I had to go with Henry Pommerening as Tom was still in Florida. Henry was a nice fellow and we were just friends. He lived on a big farm outside of St. Paul Park. When it came to graduation time Tom had finally come home on leave. 'Thirty-two in my graduating class. Tom and I took the train to Detroit and I met his family there. We also took a day trip to Winsor, Canada on a bus.

        Previous to my graduation I worked for awhile at Schunamans Tea Room in St. Paul, as a waitress (by now I had quit the bakery job). I also forgot to mention while I was working, dad always put money in the bank for me and saved it. This was to come in handy for my wedding dress. I was busy planning the wedding. Gladys was to be my bridesmaid so she and I had a lot of fun shopping. Two or three days before the wedding, I went to get my dress out of layaway and there were yellow stains on it. The way it was hung up next to something was all they could figure. It was real traumatic finding another wedding dress in two days but somehow I did. Mom had quite a time finding herself a dress, but I remember it was aqua blue. She was so nervous about me getting married! The women at the church would plan the reception. June 8, 1945 finally arrived and it was a small wedding compared to the big weddings nowadays. My cousins from South Dakota were there and various aunts and uncles. We went to Chicago for our honeymoon and there saw Frank Sinatra do a big benefit show. He sang "Old Man River," and everyone screamed and hollered! From there we went to stay a few days with Tom's folks and sister, June. Later we settled in Detroit where Tom worked for the Ford Motor Company. After much looking we finally found two rooms in a big family house and the lady of the house was a big help with my cooking.

        We had lived with Tom's sister, Marie, and her daughter, Kristine, but it was crowded and we needed our own place. We even had an ice man in the new place, we had an ice box! Also had sugar rationing and meat rationing and had to stand in lines. Nylons were out too, and such excitement as the women got in lines for them! I remember Detroit as a big dirty city. When I hung out the clothes, soot from the factories would settle on the clothes. But I would take the street car downtown sometimes and shop while Tom was at work so that made life a little more interesting there of course. Our landlord and landlady was Jim and May Shaheen, and they were very nice to us. We enjoyed their children. Tom had some uncles in Detroit but we didn't see them too often. When we finally found an upstairs apartment we moved and did some painting there to brighten it up. It was a cute place but the landlady was a real grouch and made things real awful, and with the stories coming from Minnesota via mom that my old schoolmates were building houses there, well we started thinking along those lines too, and when Tom received his Michigan pay from the years in the service, we decided to move to Minnesota and build a house too! Oh, yes, I was pregnant too and having some real morning sickness. I was also in Detroit that Tom had his tonsils removed at a clinic and rode on a street car afterwards! We didn't have a car in Michigan. I should say before leaving Detroit for beautiful Minnesota, that we did have some good times in the motor city. We used to take the boat to Macinac Island which is very picturesque and there are no cars on the island. Also we used to go to an amusement park via ride on the Bob Lo Boat. Also we played cards with some friends of Tom's from his work. There were cases of silicosis where Tom worked (Ford Motor Company) due to the refractory brick laying he did by now, and one fellow was only 40 years old and very sick, so we figured the job wasn't too healthy either. Leaving the grouchy landlady was the best part! She didn't want a baby in her apartment upon finding out I was pregnant either.

        My folks had driven out to visit us and they were happy to know they'd be grandparents soon. So in July 1946, we packed up all our belongings, mainly wedding presents, lamps, dishes, etc., and took the train to Minnesota. We stayed with my folks awhile as we proceeded to go ahead with finding property and building a house. We bought a comer lot in Newport from John J. Kenna Associates for $450 and got the excavator in to dig the basement! It was very exciting. From then on it was a lot of work, but a sturdy house would be the end result. My dad was very good with the building too, but we had the cement part of the basement done professionally.

        And it was while they (Dad and Tom) were putting the top on the basement (to also be the floor) that I went into labor! We had been to Minnesota State Fair the day before. I'd had baby showers from the church. Thomas Ross arrived August 26, at 2:38 a.m. Living was quite cramped in my folks' small house, but work resumed on our move into the basement of our house. Most young couples were doing this then and building house on top a few years later. Tom had a truckdriving job locally so we paid the plumbing and several other contractors monthly. Our oldest was called Ross from the start, and our Sundays in church he was well-known for drinking his bottle very heartily (and noisily). The move into the basement a few months later was quite exciting. Other neighbors were to settle there later. So as to let the generations that follow know our "hardships" into all this progress here's how our furnishings went! A kerosene stove with an oven (I baked bread in it too), four nail kegs with little boards on them for chairs (painted red and green), a table from someone. But we had plumbing and hot water came later. We did buy new furniture, otherwise for the living room. In the spring the fun started, leveling the lawn (one-half acres) and hauling away rocks, not to mention the huge garden we planted. Otherwise known laughingly as our "North Forty." One of the rooms in the basement was Ross’s room, and he had elephant wall paper. Also he had a new crib and new high chair. Also, while living in the basement, Tom's brother Charles, came to live with us awhile. He worked and dated several local girls.  He was an artist and painted pictures on the kitchen cupboards.

        We didn't have a car yet but we finally found a Model T Ford for $100. Tom fixed the engine and we sure were happy to have a car at last. Up till then I'd push Ross in his stroller when he got bigger to, take him to Dr. Watson in Redrock. In 1949, we had bought a new washer and a new electric stove and a new baby was on the way. Judy was born April 13, 1950, and Ross was three and very happy to have a baby sister. My folks were real happy grandparents too. Also the town of Newport was growing slowly, not with industries, but people. Cudahy Packing was still booming where dad worked, and Murphy Transport where Tom worked. It should be mentioned that years before money had been appropriate for the town of Newport to have a swimming pool, also a theater, but the town people wanted it small and refused to have these things added. But there was still the cold, snowy winters, and the snow I used to walk to school in still came and went. It wouldn't be for a few years that the lure of California would look real good. In the meantime I was busy sewing curtains, canning from the garden, socializing with a few neighbors and in the summer we went to Detroit to see Tom's folks. We had. a newer car by now of course. In the summer of 1952 we found there would be a third little Holme in the spring, but I'd decided long ago I wouldn't raise an only child! Having sisters and brothers was something I had always wanted and I'm sure Tom felt the same way, as he came from a family of five. Judy and Ross were good and we would visit Aunt Johnny and Uncle Russ in St. Paul sometimes on Sunday and they always enjoyed the children. Occasionally we would eat out in a restaurant too. A few years later, my dad built a playhouse for the kids at his place. They enjoyed it for many years. Some of the girls in the neighborhood and I had formed a club now and we saved money for every few months we would go out and eat without husbands! Our big treat was "Charlie's Cafe Exceptional" in Minneapolis where the potato salad was just an appetizer but good. Well, during the March meeting I had to miss as Patti Jo Holme was to arrive at Mounds Park Hospital on March 21. She had blond curls that always flattened down under bonnets.

        We were building the house on top of the basement and there was lots to be done. We still lived in the basement but were taking bids on the stucco, plaster, hardwood flooring and plumbing. Tom did the electrical as he'd learned that in the Navy. Patti Jo was well received by parents, sister, brother, and grandparents and so the house on 1406-4th Avenue continued being built.

        In the fall Ross started first grade in the same school I went to, only it was a little larger by now. Ross had a lot of sore throats and gave us a good scare in first grade as the doctors put him in Children’s Hospital (this was a specialist we had switched to for some reason or other) and the doctor came up with the end result that Ross probably had leukemia! Well he had terrible care and we couldn't see him much in the hospital. He was finally released, and a few weeks later had the same sore throat. We took him back to see Dr. Watson and he said all he had was a sore throat and ordered penicillin. (Tonsils would be removed later in California.) So Dr. Watson remained from then on in charge of these kids. Patti Jo was a bit of a colicky child but grew chubby like the rest.

        The house was coming along pretty good—our $5,500 loan was really stretching! We'd had an architect help draw our blue prints, the concrete blocks Tom and I laid for the walls and I lost ten pounds. We would get up early in the morning and put up the blocks and the kids would play on their swing set Tom built. Patti Jo asleep in her crib in the basement. One time Judy and Ross were naughty and found a match and ignited some cement bags upstairs and we had to get the fire department out quickly. They were in a lot of trouble from their dad for that of course. Tom was at the base, by now Tom had gone back into the Navy Reserves at Wold Chamberlain, as he had always loved the Navy, and they offered him a good deal.

        When Judy was a year old we got our first television. It was black and white, but lots of fun. My folks immediately bought one too. Romper Room and Howdy Doody were the kids'favorite. Ross was doing good in school and then amidst all the building, etc., we discover there's to be a fourth Holme. Anyway by the time the snow melted in 1953, on May 6th, Tina Holme had arrived. She was the first one of the children to start out in the new house! The girls had their room upstairs on one side of dormer, and Ross had the other room. Course Tiny Tina stayed in her bassinet awhile. She was smaller than her sister and brothers but very vocal. When she was able to stand up in her crib you'd have thought we could creep upstairs real quiet and maybe pick up a few dirty clothes, etc., but no there would be Tina standing up with her curly hair watching for her reprieve from the crib. Patti Jo and Judy were probably playing with their toys by now anyway and she would help. Ross was an outdoor kid, and enjoyed his bikes, and helping grandpa in the garage at his house building things. 1952 was an especially busy year too as we had lots of company from Detroit to see the new house. I suppose and all the "new" Holme children. Tom's dad, Avery, and his girlfriend, Ruth, also later on Tom's mom and husband, Bob Wineman, and sister, Mary Catherine, too I believe came to visit from Detroit.

        I forgot to mention while living in the basement we had survived some bad tornados and the basement flooded out and the television went on a sled while we lived temporarily at my folks' house. Well, Christmas was real nice in the new house with the shiny hardwood floors and big living room and nice, warm new furnace. Also by now, we had a new blue 1955 Ford station wagon, which got pushed by my 1949 Chevy to start on cold days. In the summer we now went to Sibley State Park and camped with tent and all the kids for a week or two. We also met friends up there and played Scrabble via Coleman lantern in the wee hours of the morning while the kids slept. Sometimes Tom and Ross took the boat out and fished while the girls and I swam in the lake. Also going up to Itaska Lake was our favorite although it sort of ruined Tina from using bathrooms for a long time. Their outside toilets were built over a falls and on one particular trip while Tina was about two and one-half, she got very frightened about that trip to the "potty."

        Tom sold vacuum cleaners part-time too with a friend in St. Paul, Eddie Race, and they were real dirty people and in 1952 Eddie ended up in Veterans Hospital with what they said was a liver problem. Well we were at their house for dinner while Ed was in the hospital and unknown to me we were all exposed to hepatitis which was what Ed had. So a few weeks later I became very sick and upon a visit to Dr. Sommerdorf (Dr. Watson was on vacation) they found I had hepatitis and ordered me to bed for about three weeks. I didn 't want to go but doctor convinced me I had only one liver and kids to raise. That did the trick and I stayed in the upstairs bedroom and Tom had a phone installed for me by my bed. Ross must've had his room downstairs now. Anyway, mom would come over and help too and take Patti Jo back with her. Ross was in school and the famous story of Judy bringing me up toast and milk and she was only four, but a very grown up four I must say. The neighbors all brought dinner over on several occasions. It was very contagious though, so all the family had gamma goblin shots except for mother, who was very stubborn, so when I recovered six weeks later mom came down with the same thing and I took care of her. We both recovered and there was no liver damage praise the Lord. Course I can't give blood because of it. I might add the reason mother didn't feel it necessary to have the gamma goblin shot was that dad had hepatitis while I was in high school Obviously it was a different type. Oh, yes, I lost 20 pounds which of course I gained back when I was up and around again. Patti Jo was a baby so mom would take her home each day. Tom took care of the children and did chores in the evening.

      Tom had been a member of the Newport Volunteer Fire Department for quite a few years and every summer there was a "Booja" which consisted of a soup cooked with a base of ox tails and vegetables and other meat put in later, cooked in huge kettles and everyone from far and near came and ate Booja and took some home. In the winter, Tom played hockey with them and one year the hockey puck hit him in the nose and he was in bad shape needless to say.

We had lots of neighbors by now. Most of the basement dwellers had built their homes. The kids used to play a lot with the Bouch children and they had a little boy named "Markie" who was real cute. This must've been the reason I got pregnant in the spring of 1958! Of course Ross wanted a brother too. So we did our usual camping in the summer. Only this time we went to the Black Hills and on to Aunt Hylma's (mom's sister) and Uncle Ike's in Hettinger, North Dakota. We all enjoyed the Black Hills. It had rained so much camping in Minnesota that we had a lot of muddy clothes to wash in a nice Laundromat in Pierre, South Dakota. Also I was having real bad morning sickness. But I'm sure we had a good time anyway. The kids helped set up camp and each had their little "chores." After the trip everyone was glad to be home to their friends, grandpa and grandma and the house.

The girls, by now, took tap dancing from "Mitze" in Newport and I sewed the outfits for the recitals. They also sang several songs in their "sister" dresses I had made for them. I had ordered some things from the Ward's Catalogue. They had sent me "accidentally" about 14 yards of pretty, flowered material so I made the girls and myself matching dresses. My neighbor, Virginia, helped me make my own patterns. Ross took accordion lessons and was very good at that too. His recital with the 'Tic Tac Polka" was very good as he could hardly be seen behind the accordion, but be really played! Life was very busy in Newport, Tom had worked at 3M Company now for quite awhile, but somehow the Navy Reserve interested him as he had always loved the Navy. He went back into the Navy at Wold Chamberlain, Minneapolis. It was quite a decision for him to make, but it was a beneficial one as you will see as the story goes on. In the fall, it was school again. It was the same school I went to as a student too and they walked in the usual snow to and fro. Tina started first grade with a rather bad teacher, Mrs. Chakall. She didn't have much patience with children and Tina had always been very tiny and very feisty! Somehow with Tom's and my help, Tina learned her letters and progressed.

Ross was in junior high, and anxiously awaiting a brother. All of my pregnancies were two weeks early so we weren't too surprised on the day of December 23 when I started with contractions. I now had changed to Dr. Sommerderf and would be going to St. John's Hospital which had a new maternity ward. So with my folks in charge of the children, and all the furniture dusted (I always did some housework in between pains so as not to arrive too early in the hospital). This time the pains fooled us and the number five Hoime took time to arrive. Someone said it was because I was older! (Ha) The others had only taken about three to four hours labor. Knowing also this would be the last Holme to be bom, also that it was almost Christmas, made it quite an exciting Christmas and event to say the least. I also was determined to stay awake for this delivery. This hospital was so new and modem compared to Mounds Park where the rest were born. Anyway, at 6 p.m. all went well and Eric Bruce Holme finally arrived. Everyone was excited and at home, Ross called all his friends that he finally had a brother. On Christmas day the hospital allowed families to come to the nursery (even children) and see their babies. I was in a ward with three other new mothers and able to stay three days as the Navy was paying for it. Eric only cost us 50 cents for the telephone in my room! The girls were real happy to have a baby brother too, and of course, in the years to follow, Tina would assume the job of playing the most with her little brother, though of course, the 12 years between Eric and Ross were not to be very conducive to companionship. They became closer later on. The coming home was very nice and there was lots of company to see the new baby. Ross was real proud and brought all his friends to see Eric.

It was also the same year that all the "left home" children got exposed to chicken pox and measles while mom was in the hospital four days. So of course in due course they all got those too. Eric didn't have the usual childhood diseases as he built up the natural immunities the doctor said. But the cold weather in Minnesota had always played a part in the children having various ear infections and Judy's bronchitis was quite scary while she was a baby. Tina had croup-pneumonia while she was four. We had to vaporize her. When she was finally getting better she looked at her bottle of Terramycin and said, "Don't want no more of that Bop" (meaning pop, which was how we got her to take it! Now we knew she was getting better).

        While I was in the hospital Tom and Ross had made a rocking horse for Eric. It was to be called "Sugar Foot" after a television program Tom missed while I was in labor.

        Needless to say, Eric was the apple of everyone's eye – the grandparents, Uncle Russell and Aunt Johnnie.   When he got about three he went with grandpa McNaughton to deliver bakery goods in St. Paul (My dad had "retired" from Cudahays by now after 20 years). Eric would watch for grandpa at night at their house and would ask grandpa where his "Guck" was, meaning truck. One time we looked for Eric and saw his red hat going through the neighbor's weeds to grandmas. The dog "Lady" was with him. He had several bad cases of bronchitis though and one time at the Navy doctors at Wold Chamberlain I asked how living in California would affect his health and the doctor said if we lived inland it might help. I had always dreamed of living in California since my cousin, Kay, moved here, and hearing about the sun and sand, etc. Of course the move would change much of all our lives we would find, but mostly for the good. Well, somehow Tom was convinced maybe a transfer to California would be nice and leave the snow behind. We had gone to a show one night and came out and found snow drifts all around. At home with Ross taking charge they were watching television with the drapes closed unaware of all the blizzard outdoors.

      I had started doing some waitressing after Eric was born working the graveyard shift at the C&H in Inver Grove. Also, first I worked for the Rolling Stone in Newport and helped the boss, Merle, in the kitchen besides waitressing. We had a girl come visit us from the Beverly Hills Hotel (California) and she taught us all how to hold a large amount of plates on our arm.

Maybe that's when the California bug started to get me. Well, one transfer was shot down like Tom would say, and in 1962 after another cold winter, Tom phoned to say we wouldn't see another winter and I asked why. And he said we were transferred to California July 1st. Seems he hadn't stopped the transfer proceedings. All was very exciting and by now, I was working at a bar and grill in St. Paul and everyone there told me I'd hate California and had me quite upset one day. But things moved on and the day the moving van came was real exciting. My folks were sad we were going but we told them they could come out too, which as everyone knows, later they did. We rented the house in the meantime there to a Navy fellow. We had fun buying California newspapers to check on housing. The movers were very thorough and Ross was a rock collector and we did convince him to leave some of his huge rocks.

Our 55 Chevy was packed to the brim with a huge dog "Lady", food, and kids and our trip began. Patti Jo was to spend most of her time reading as she wasn't much for scenery. We wrote lots of post cards to my folks and friends. On the trip moving out the kids even played cards and taught Eric to hold his cards for canasta. We know how the early settlers must have felt except we had a nice station wagon. We had tail gate picnics along the way. At one point Eric would tell us to be quiet as Lady was sleeping. I did some driving too and we pitched a tent at night. Upon arriving at Scottsdale, Arizona, where Tom's family lived, we were amazed at the 114 degree heat there. But they were glad to see us and after getting refreshed and all, Tom and I left the kids with Marie and Tom's folks and headed for Tom's friends, the Lindskoogs in Stanton, California to look for a house. Driving into California for the first time was really exciting. It was so beautiful, mountains all around. I could hardly wait for my folks to see it. The orange groves I knew mom would love. Well, it didn't take too long (one day) to find a house as our budget was limited and in those days houses were cheaper and we bought a cute three-bedroom Seahaven Home for $100 down. Now the fun began. We had to find important discharge papers in the cedar chest which was in storage in Torrance. But guess we did all that somehow. We headed back to Arizona. Tom had done his checking in on the base at Los Alamitos, so we could get some money now. The kids were all excited about living in California. Eric had come with us on the first trip to buy the house and we had stayed with Navy friends of Tom's in Stanton. So now it was picking up the kids from the grandparents. Bob and grandma Wineman and Tom's sister, Marie had boarded several of them too. The trip out here with the whole family was real exciting of course.

We moved into our house with sleeping bags. The next day the moving van brought our furniture. The first thing off the truck was Eric's little red tricycle which he'd been asking for! We had checked out schools in various districts and were told Huntingdon Beach had the best school district and there was our main concern of course. It was really exciting decorating the new house and there was a lot to do-yard work and flowers to plant. My first job was as a waitress at Sam's Seafood. It was very elegant and the tips were terrific. Back in Minnesota my folks were busily planning a trip to California which they made in the fall of 1963. By now we had met various neighbors moving into the tract. We could see Costa Mesa in the distance at night as there were no houses then across from us.

        Tom was busy at the base (Los Alamitos) and on different occasions we would go see movies in the hangars for 15 cents a piece. The kids would take some of their friends too. While I working at Sam's Seafood as a waitress Ross became a bus boy there. He was in his junior year at Marina High School and also a life guard part-time at the base. He was very handsome and had lots of girlfriends calling the house. After we had been here a few months Tom's sister, June, and daughter, Kathi, came to stay with us awhile. She would take the girls roller skating at a rink where the restaurant, Maxwells, is now. After she had been here awhile her boyfriend, Ernie, came and took her and Kathi back to Scottsdale, Arizona. Other company we had in the beginning was Aunt Johnnie and Uncle Russell and they brought all the kids a silver dollar wrapped in pretty net.

        Our Christmas and Thanksgiving was spent going out to Los Alamitos for the holiday dinner. We ate on the big trays the military used and there was lots of food. The girls even brought home candies in their purses. Other times we would go to the base for a movie or to see Tom's inspections.

        By now we had met many new friends in the neighborhood. Over on Nautilus there was Walls, Marcotts, and Boris; and next to us was the Hernmonns, and on the comer was Timmy and Don Cherry and their four kids. Don got cancer a few years later and that was very sad when he passed away as he was so young. We all loved California living and took the usual Christmas pictures of us all standing in the ocean up to our ankles to send back to Minnesota. About the only problem was finding a new dentist. Eric had some bad molars and we finally found a good dentist for him in Newport Beach, thanks to Judy Boris. Oh yes, we discovered Dr. Scott in Costa Mesa too when Eric pulled a rope hanging from the garage attic and a suitcase fell and cut his head. I was home that day with no car so the Huntington Beach Police took us over to Dr. Scott. But now we were getting settled and getting used to a smaller house than we had in Minnesota.  Even Lady, the family dog, was adjusting to California, except for the ticks in the sandy soil got in her fur.

        Our first church and Sunday school was Resurrection Lutheran on Hamilton in Huntington Beach, but shortly after we transferred over to Faith Lutheran on Ellis and would remain there until about 1965. Patty Jo and Judy were both confirmed there by Pastor J. DeLange.

        In 1964 (summer) we decided to make a trip back to Minnesota to see my folks. We "left" Ross with cousin Gordon and Joanne Nelson. Actually he wasn't there much as he was working and had a girlfriend, Ada, at the time. Our trip back was during very hot weather and we all missed the ocean breeze to cool us off. But it was good seeing my folks and the old neighbors again too and Aunt Johnnie and Uncle Russ. It was on Tom's birthday, July 9th, and we stopped in Kansas City, Kansas to get him a present. We looked like real Californians, thongs and shorts. It was 110 degrees on the turnpike there, but all the people shopping in Kansas were in ties and shirts, dresses, etc., and we all thought them real weird. While we were back visiting, my dad had a real bad backache but didn't go to the doctor. Turned out it was osteoarthritis as we found out after we got back to California. He finally ended up in the hospital then for a few days. It was a combination of missing us all that decided my folks to sell their house and move out here in 1965. By now they had made several trips to visit us in California and mom loved the orange groves here and all the flowers. There was a lot to see and through the years we all saw to it that they saw many exciting things. We took them to see the Art Linkletter Show and Phyliss Diller was on the show. Mom loved it. Years later we took my folks to see Jimmy Dean and also Liberace. Mom was so excited when he ran down the isle by us.

        By the time they moved here to settle in College Trailer Park in Costa Mesa, where dad would help the owner, Jerry, maintain the park there. Mom did some babysitting for our neighbor, Joan Turbiville, when she wasn't helping us with the family while I worked. Mom loved to iron. Sometimes I had to hide the ironing as she got herself too tired doing it all! It was rather sad when we had to tell my folks Tom and I had decided to divorce. We had simply outgrown each other and the Navy took a lot of Tom's time. What at the time he jokingly said, "If the Navy had wanted him to have a wife, they'd had issued one at small stores." Well we were fortunate to remain friends through it all.

        I was working in a small restaurant downtown, "The Buzz Inn," and one night a tall gray haired fellow named Earl came into the restaurant while I was closing up. (I had met him awhile back at the Paddock in Huntington Beach.) The story went that Earl wanted to go out with me. He came into the restaurant one evening when I was closing up and wanted a cup of coffee. I asked him if he wanted to wear it or drink it! In later years he would tell the story, laughingly saying maybe he should have worn it. At the time I really wasn't interested but he came by another time and something about him intrigued me so we went out for dinner and shortly later he came by and met the kids. The following Sunday he went to church with us and Eric sat on his lap. Earl had just been through a nasty divorce. His wife was being really mean about seeing his kids in Hemet. One of Earl's first contribution to the Holme family was to buy me a washer from friend "Wiff." My washer had suddenly died. By now Tom was at the base and of course, he was dating too. But Patty Jo came home one day with a girlfriend, Bunny, who's mom needed a couch reupholstered. She lived nearby so the kids decided to have their dad, Tom, meet her. Well they hit it off really well (the couch never was covered as the story goes) and as the story goes, Earl and I became serious and he was a big help with the kids, so November 1966, we went to Las Vegas on the train and were married. The following February, Tom and Norma Boltz were married too and still are.

        Earl drove trucks, which really fascinated the kids, especially Eric, who went with him on a trip to San Francisco. My folks liked Earl somewhat too, but were a little skeptical of him. Oh yes, Ross had graduated at Marina High School in 1965 with a class of 800 (20 years after my graduation). He went to Orange Coast College awhile and then met "Honey." He and Honey seemed like a very compatible pair (her real name is Gwen) and when one day he asked me if I thought they should get married, I said, well she's the nicest girl you've gone with. And she was of course as he'd had many girlfriends but many we didn't approve. So then they informed us they were getting married at Knott's Berry Farm at "Church of the Reflections" in December 1966, after Earl's and my marriage on November 6, 1966. It was a simple wedding, but beautiful, with Ross kneeling on a white pillow and very nervous. After the honeymoon, Ross worked in a gas station in Santa Ana as a mechanic which he was always very good at repairs, like grandpa McNaughton had taught him back in the old garage in Minnesota. Later Ross and Honey moved to San Bemardino to a cute little house. He worked in Victorville in two gas stations. He worked long hours. On February 24, 1968 Thomas Ross Holme, Jr. was born and very blond like his dad when he was small.

        Judy was to graduate from Huntington High School two years later and received a scholarship to cosmetology. She also was a terrific cook and seamstress. She had made her two-piece dress when she was confirmed several years before. By now Judy had met Mac Ortega in high school, and they were married in a beautiful service after a rather stormy courtship! Pat Jo had many friends and studied all the time. She was also the counselor on the phone to all her friends. We called her Ann Landers. Somewhere during a Sadie Hawkins dance she met Pat Truesdale via her friend, Vicky (he was Vicky's brother) only I didn't know it for years later as when she went to see Vicky she also saw Pat. Earl was quite strict with the girls. Tina was a late bloomer and as the story goes, she helped a lot at home and of course, helping watch little brother Eric who by now as very busy too with his Boys Club, Cub Scouts, and he and Tina had lots of friends coming over. We finally were able to have Earl's kids come and visit so it made for a full house.

        I don't know whether I mentioned it or not but as the winters had gotten colder in Minnesota (before we moved out here) one of my dreams had been 1) to live in California and 2) to be a blond. My cousin, Jeanne and her husband, Andy, had come to visit us when we lived in Newport and Jeanne had such nice blonde hair. Well anyway while Earl was truck driving for a couple of days away I decided to have my hair done differently. I went to the school where Judy was later to take her cosmetology in 1967 and thus proceeded to frost my hair. Well it didn't turn out too well, so the ultimatum was to blond it. When Earl heard about it via the phone he said a few choice words that he liked me brunette. Well by the time I joined him at the "Green Shack," after his day's work, and all his truck driving buddies approved of my hair he said it was o.k. Earl tried out his carpentry talents via of paneling the garage. The pool table was his hobby and he and Jeff Jeffers and their kids and Lil and I played pool on our table or theirs. Earl's love of truck driving even involved the neighbor kids who would get a ride with Eric in the cab around the block. Another time Earl took Eric with him on the truck to Northern California. There was never a dull moment so to speak in the Squire's household. But he enjoyed the family closeness which he had missed in his previous marriage, so except for occasional drinking too much on Earl's part, we all had a lot of happy memories, and then in 1972 I got a call at the Broadway (where I was a waitress for 13 years) that Earl had a heart attack in Chula Vista. He was in the hospital there. I "secured" the family at home (Judy in charge no doubt-she was my helper by now.). Anyway I drove to Chula Vista and while they did a lot of testing on him, Earl was released the next day and we came home and he rested somewhat. He was never really well after that. He was put in the care of Dr. McArthur whom I didn't like and Earl did and when a year and a half went by he was sick again and hospitalized, the end result being he was not properly diagnosed and on May 2, 1973 was found to have cancer. He put up a terrific but hopeless fight, but with the help of Dorothy from the Broadway, he read the Bible and regained his faith. In the end we had wonderful doctors for him. Unfortunately these doctors were discovered too late, but of course, lung cancer is a difficult thing to treat and he had smoked since age 16. We were lucky to have a great family at this time. Even Lillian and Jeff helped with him. Tom and Norma had moved back now from Arizona and Norma made Earl pies, etc. Earl would sit in his favorite brown leather chair and watch the Waltons with Eric and I. We had a hospital bed for him, but he didn't like it. During one of Earl's more "lucid" moments and in between chemotherapy and cobalt which left him weak and very sick, he told me to make sure I made a new life for myself when he was gone and I kept telling him he wasn't going anywhere. Only two of his kids come down while he was sick—Richard and Craig and that didn't help his progress either. But this was his main family anyway as he said many times and he loved us all. His end came January 17, 1974, peacefully watching the Waltons with Eric and myself. We'd had the public health nurse out the day before as we couldn't move him, so I should've known he wasn't going to make it. The family was terrific as usual, but my mom had a stroke about a week later as she was so worried about me, so it was hospitals all over again. But life goes on as Earl would've wanted and on it did as the story will tell. Mom got better for awhile as the Lord wanted.

        After Earl's death, my friend, Lillian, convinced me to join a bowling team with her. I was having a bad time, missing Earl and she knew it. Eric and I went to Hawaii as everyone felt a trip would be good for us. We rented a car. Eric was a big help and a lot of company, even though he met a lot of friends and surfed with them. I just enjoyed the food and met a lot of nice people. I wished Earl could have seen it. We called Judy from Maui to tell her we'd be home the next night. I could tell by her voice that all was not well. We found out when we got home that she and Mac had separated. She had not wanted to worry us with their problems. It was about this time I met Chuck while bowling. He "wined" and "dined" me. He took me to a lot of nice restaurants. It was nice to buy some nice clothes again. Chuck went back to West Virginia to visit his family, and on his way home, I flew to Amarillo, Texas and met him. We had a nice time seeing the scenery in his red 55 Ford. We stopped in Las Vegas. By the time we got back and resumed our bowling and both our jobs (Chuck is a mechanic), we had a lot of good times together. When his mother came to visit in March of 1975, somehow we decided to go to Las Vegas and get married. Our friends, Don and BJ, Eric, and Chuck's mom went along. A nice little ceremony and even the car with "Just Married" painted in shoe polish! Well all was fine for awhile. I had wanted a larger house so I sold my house on Bushard and we bought the one I'm in now. Chuck helped do a lot of remodeling to this one, and we had a lot of fun together. He helped with my folks and seemed to really enjoy the family. But he had a bit of a roving eye I was to find. We parted finally as "friends" and divorced in 1982. He knew how much I liked this house and neighborhood so I feel all things in life are an experience. Even though we may get hurt some good comes out of it. By now Judy also had met Henry. I was happy for her.

        My wonderful grandchildren started coming along in 1968 with Ross and Honey having TR February 24. In 1970 along came Robbie Ortega and as his dad, Mac, slept in the hospital chair. I was able to creep next to the delivery room and hear Judy talking recipes to the nurses! Robbie was a real good little boy and a joy to everyone. Michael Ortega came along in 1973 and he too was a wonderful little boy and still is I might add. In 1978 Tami Truesdale started the Truesdale line and she too was a real pretty baby but she would be moving to Alaska at age one with mom and dad where they would have three more Truesdales in years to come—Sarge, Mary, Jessica. And their trips to California were well enjoyed by all. In 1976 Bethany Noel Ortega arrived and was very doted on by her brothers, and all my folks really enjoyed the little Ortegas as they were the only ones close by and on many occasions when Judy and Henry lived in Fountain Valley (Judy married Henry Eiland after Bethie was born and they lived in Fountain Valley). In 1979 Sara Jean Louise Eiland was bom to Judy and Henry. She is named after the grandmas. Sara has a lot of personality and was and is famous for some cute sayings. My folks would come and visit the kids. In 1979 Tina and Ray had Jessica Hemandez and she too was a real cutie. In 1982 along came Randy Nicolos Hemandez and he too had a personality of his own but like his cousins he was also a charmer. Well the last grandchildren to arrive (at this writing) are Ashley Nicolle Holme and Christopher Robert Holme. Eric and Kathi were married October 29, 1983, and their beautiful children just complete the end of the story as it is now. My love to you all and special thanks to Judy whose idea it was to write this. And to Robbie for seeing that all you wonderful grandchildren were mentioned! The stories of all the grandchildren would probably be another book—maybe later.

More Memorable Moments:

Tina and her surprise birthday party –

Not to mention my birthday ring packed in a large box.

Patti Jo and all the nice plants wired for Mother's Day and birthdays.

Judy and the Sinatra book and tickets to his show. 

Trip to Las Vegas in her car too.

Eric and Kathi and Barry Manalow Show and surprise of them being there too.

Plus red flowers at Christmas and Eric carrying them in.

Ross just coming home and surprising us all this summer.

Love, Mom (Grandma Cleavenger)